The present invention is directed to a ticket or label holder for attachment to merchandising shelves. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a label holder which is co-extruded, can be clipped on to the face of the shelf and which will permit the changing of one label without affecting the location or position of an adjacent label held by the same label holder.
The merchandising industry has developed numerous ways to display product/pricing information in front of items tendered for sale. One type of label holder is top loaded. There are a number of problems with top-loaded holders. First, oversized labels, which are becoming popular with retailers, typically extend above the edge of the shelf and interfere with the removal of items. This inevitably results in labels being knocked out of their holders so that the merchandise is unlabeled/unpriced. As an alternative, retailers may use tape to adhere the oversized label to the outside of the window or use a bent down flap which is received in the window. Both of these solutions require additional expense and have their own operational draw backs.
A In addition, top-loaded holders are subject to particles (crumbs, dirt, liquids, scraps of paper) falling into the loading slot. These particles/liquids may obscure the information on the label and, at the very least, present an unsightly appearance and a housekeeping headache. Lastly, where the label does not extend above the edge of the holder, changing the label becomes difficult since the holder must be pried open wide enough for the worker to insert her/his finger to engage the label. Such prying open may result in the joint on the window becoming fatigued so that the window hands open exacerbating the problem of the top-loaded holder catching debris.
Another type of label holder is bottom loaded and utilizes a plurality of flexible fingers extending from both sides to grip the label. While this bottom-loading design does not have the problem of collecting debris, it has several problems of its own. First, when a label must be changed in a continuous strip which holds several labels, pulling the label out typically reverses the direction of bias on the flexible fingers which will result in adjacent labels becoming skewed or dropped as a result of this particular label being changed. In addition, some stores have experienced breakage of these holders resulting in general dissatisfaction with this holder.
Regardless of whether the label holder is top loading or bottom loading, existing designs suffer from another deficiency related to their means of mounting to the shelf A number of the designs clip inside the upper and lower flanges on the front lip of the shelf This requires the holder to be configured to fit a particular shelf size. Conventional shelving has three different sized front lips which require the retailer to stock three different size holders.
The label holder of the present invention overcomes the problems associated with these prior art devices. The present invention comprises a co-extruded, clip-on label holder which includes a first generally planar back portion made of opaque plastic and having means for attachment to a shelf, a window portion made of transparent plastic and attached along one edge of the back portion and extending generally downwardly forming a bottom-loaded label holder. Since the label holder clips onto the lower flange of the front lip of the shelf, the holder can be used with any sized shelf and variations in distance between the upper and lower flanges resulting from bending and the like, are of no consequence.
A first rigid rib means extends from the back portion toward the window portion and a second rigid rib means extends from the window portion toward the back portion, the first and second rigid rib means cooperating to engage an upper edge portion of a label and secure it in position. First and second rigid rib means secure a label in position and change out of adjacent labels do not affect its location. Since the holder of the present invention is bottom loading, any crumbs or liquid will simply run off the window and will not interfere with the display of information on the label. The windows do not have to pried open enough to afford finger access as is the case with some top-loaded designs, which reduces the fatiguing of the joint between the window and the back portion. Finally, oversized labels can be displayed without the added expense of tape or flaps and without obscuring access to the shelved items.
First and second rigid rib means preferably comprise triangular shaped ribs extending the full length of the holder and extend inwardly toward the opposing window and back portion more than one half the distance therebetween. First rib means preferably includes two parallel rigid ribs while the second rib means comprises one rib which extends between the space formed by the two ribs of the first rib means. The triangular ribs are generally right triangles with a surface extending generally orthogonally to the insertion axis of the label holder, said orthogonal surface resisting removal of the label from the holder. The back portion includes a pair of resilient fingers which are designed to encircle the lower flange of a merchandise shelf The outer finger will engage behind the flange of the shelf while the inner finger is doubled-back to form a surface which will engage the front of the shelf and allow the resilient finger to be sprung outwardly during installation. The material of choice for the holder of the present invention is rigid polyvinyl chloride (RPVC) although other plastics may be used without departing from the scope of the invention.
Various other features, advantages and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after a reading of the following specification.